Google is making Chrome OS more touch-friendly

When you think of tablet operating systems, you may think iOS, Android and perhaps Windows at a stretch, but Google is planning to change that perception by adding another of its operating systems into the running.

When Google introduced Android apps to Chrome OS last year, one might have thought it was doing so to make up for the lack of native apps offered for the platform.
Instead, the firm appears to have a much more ambitious plan in mind.

Google is moving Chrome OS from a simple OS that supports desktops and laptops, to one like Windows which powers tablets and hybrids of all flavours as well.
First, the firm is changing the way the app launcher appears in Chrome OS when a tablet or detachable in tablet mode is in use.
According to a commit discovered by XDA Developers Chrome OS will now open a full-screen launcher for tablets when in tablet mode, as opposed to applying the default desktop behaviour of opening a partial launcher when the home button is pressed. This will be reminiscent of how tablets from other operating systems already work, and will be more user-friendly for consumers.

Next, Google is working on making Chrome itself more touch-friendly for tablet users. The firm has added a new flag to the Chrome Canary and Beta builds that make Chrome touchable on tablets and hybrids. This makes the Chrome interface bigger and more spacious, and of course, it takes on elements from Google's new, more rounded design that we talked about before.

This touch movement isn't simply aimless scrabbling, this week the firm launched the first Chrome OS detachable, last week the first Chrome OS tablet was launched.

Google appears to be serious about making Chrome OS a tablet OS as well, but only time will tell if this is a worthwhile endeavour.